MixedWashington PostFor this fictional account, Schwartz has made a few important changes ... The result is an episodic reading experience that prizes discreet, intensely rendered scenes over narrative action and flow ... The Red Daughter is full of writerly noticing ... Schwartz’s portrayal of Alliluyeva is closely observed and fully realized ... The strongest and strangest part of the novel concerns Alliluyeva’s courtship with and eventual marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright’s son-in-law ... After an entertaining first half...The Red Daughter descends into something mundane: an account of adultery that feels rehashed from the works of John Updike and John Cheever.
Jonathan Lee
PositiveThe Washington PostGiven its premise, readers might be forgiven for thinking that the book is a political thriller, but anyone coming to High Dive expecting a cliffhanger in the tradition of Frederick Forsyth or Robert Harris will be disappointed. Lee is far more interested in character than plot. Instead of white-knuckle action, we get a sequence of exquisitely rendered set pieces. The result is a beautifully realized novel about the intertwining of loyalty, family, ambition and politics.
